Cold murder case still burns

Anne M. Amato

Published 10:08 pm, Friday, December 21, 2012

Linda Gallo, the widow of Francis Gallo who was shot in the kitchen of his home 20 years ago, speakes with Shelton police officials at Shelton Police Department in Shelton, Conn. on Thursday December 13, 2012.
Photo: Christian Abraham

Shelton Police Detective Ben Trabka talks about the cold case involving the shooting death of Francis Gallo 20 years ago, at a meeting to update his widow Linda, at Shelton Police Department in Shelton, Conn. on Thursday December 13, 2012.
Photo: Christian Abraham

Shelton Police Detective Ben Trabka talks about the cold case...

Shelton Police Detective Ben Trabka and Captain Michael Madden, right, talk about the cold case involving the shooting death of Francis Gallo 20 years ago, at a meeting to update his widow Linda, at Shelton Police Department in Shelton, Conn. on Thursday December 13, 2012.
Photo: Christian Abraham

SHELTON -- The widow of a man gunned down after confronting a burglar in their home 20 years ago said it's time his murder was solved.

"It's time someone out there comes forward," said a still-grieving Linda Gallo. "It's gone on too long."

It was in the early morning hours of Dec. 22, 1992, that her husband, Francis Gallo, confronted an intruder in the kitchen of their Howe Avenue home.

The family was asleep upstairs when he heard a noise and went to investigate.

"I heard gunshots -- pop, pop," Linda Gallo said. She went downstairs and found her husband lying on the floor, shot in the neck. He would die a short time later, leaving behind not only his wife, but two young children -- Lindsay, 11, and Francis Jr., 14. He was just 41.

Linda Gallo has been waiting all these years for someone to come forward and help solve her husband's murder. It's a wound that won't heal, she'll tell you, a hurt that won't go away. "We want closure," she said "We want justice. We want to know why."

Police also say it's time this case was solved and hope that, after all this time, someone will decide it's the right thing to do, someone with a conscience. If not for that reason, there's also a $70,000 reward, said Detective Ben Trabka.

He said police know who killed Gallo.

The suspect, he said, was only 15 when he committed the crime.

"Time passes, friendships change and we're hoping that, after all these years, someone will finally come forward with the information we need to make this arrest," said Trabka. "His family and friends are aware of what he has done and have been hiding the truth for 20 years."

The suspect has since moved away from the area and has a family of his own, he said. "He was questioned about the murder," Trabka said, but there wasn't enough evidence for an arrest.

"This crime should have been solved many years ago, but we were limited by the evidence collected at the time of the murder," said Capt. Michael Madden. "We are so close."

Madden added that, while there are three unsolved homicides in the city, the other two had "criminal elements attached." He said Gallo was the "very innocent victim" of a violent crime.

Trabka said others were eliminated as suspects over the years, including Michael Cerreta. Although Cerreta was not involved in Gallo's murder, he was convicted in the May 1989 murder of Margaret Wooding, 74, of Stratford, who died during a botched burglary at her home.

"That was one positive," said Trabka. "At least that case was cleared."

Gallo's death has left a "gaping hole" that is felt daily, said his daughter, Lindsay, now 31.

"Things come up all the time and you think about him and how he should be here," she said. That's especially true of her upcoming wedding in April.

"You go to buy your wedding gown and they make comments about how you'll look when your dad walks you down the aisle," she said. "You don't know what to say," she added. "You don't want them to think he's out of the picture -- that's he's a deadbeat dad -- that it's his choice not to be there."

But, she said, she knows her father will be there, in spirit, on her wedding day. In fact, she's sure he sent her his blessings the day she got engaged this past April at the Magic Kingdom at Disney World.

Her father was a drummer with the Connecticut Hurricanes, she said. When the engagement ring was being slipped on her finger, the Main Street band was making its usual daily march through the area.

"Only the drum line was playing," she said. "I know that meant my father was saying he approved. It was very emotional. We all started to cry."